Travel website ranks Houston on top 10 list

Houston’s been on a lot of lists lately. We’ve been named one of America’s coolest cities, the best place for college grads to find work and one of the top metros for twentysomethings.

Houston loyalists might want to brace themselves for this one.

Ucityguides.com called Houston one of the ugliest cities in the world. And they didn’t mince words in their description of the fourth largest city:

Houston, we have a problem: You’re ugly. This is the United States’ fourth largest city when it comes to population, but the attraction sure isn’t scenery. There are many other ugly American cities (let’s face it — American metropolises aren’t exactly beauties: Atlanta, Cleveland…), but this one should win the title of ugliest of them all, with a large impoverished and homeless population (close to one in five families live below the poverty line) and a cityscape with no formal zoning regulations.

The list has nine other cities the travel site found aesthetically unappealing, including Mexico City; Caracas, Venezuela; and Amman, Jordan. The other two U.S. cities that got called out for their unattractiveness were Detroit and Los Angeles.

Photo: Moises Castillo / AP

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No. 1: Guatemala City where a sinkhole covers a street intersection, June 2, 2010.

No. 1: Guatemala City where a sinkhole covers a street intersection, June 2, 2010.